The honor "in recognition of Nichols' distinguished career in motion picture directing" will be presented to the director at the 56th annual DGA Awards, Feb. 7. "There is hardly an entertainment medium that Mike Nichols hasn't pioneered and mastered," DGA president Michael Apted stated in a release. "You can put any of these in front of his name with the word winner: Oscar®, Emmy, Tony, Grammy... In his 37 years of directing films, Mike Nichols has brought millions of movie-goers into the theater. He has done it with class, intelligence, and always good humor."

The DGA Lifetime Achievement Award winner is chosen by the present and past presidents of the Guild. The award, first presented in 1953, is not presented on an annual basis. Only 30 directors have been recognized with the honor including Cecil B. De Mille, Frank Capra, Alfred Hitchcock, John Huston, Orson Welles, Billy Wilder, Elia Kazan, Ingmar Bergman, Sidney Lumet, Robert Altman, Woody Allen, Stanley Kubrick, Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese.

Nichols has enjoyed a long career as a director of stage. His numerous credits on stage include Barefoot in the Park, Luv, The Odd Couple, The Apple Tree, The Little Foxes, Plaza Suite, The Prisoner of Second Avenue, Comedians, The Gin Game, The Real Thing, Hurlyburly, Waiting for Godot and The Seagull.